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07.15.99City of Sanford Planning and Zoning Commission Regularly Scheduled Meeting 7:00 P.M. Thursday, July 15, 1999 Citv Commission Chambers, Citv Hall, Sanford,, Florida AGENDA Hold a Public Hearing to consider a request for a Conditional Use for property located at 1301 Crescent Street in a S -1, Single - Family Residential Zoning District for the purpose of establishing a Two - Family Dwelling (duplex). Tax Parcel No: 31-19-31-503-0000-0010 Property Owner: Carlos E. 'alai Representative: Carlos E. Falaci 2.A. Consider the Preliminary Subdivision Plan for Boulevard Plaza, a commercial subdivision located at 3786 Orlando Drive (northwest corner of W. Lake Mary Boulevard and US 17-92) in a GC-2, General Commercial Zoning District. Tax Parcel Numbers: 11-20-30-300-023A-0000 11 -2 - - I T- 0000 -0230 Property Owners: Sandefur and Associates Ellen E. Thomas Representatives: Ronald Henson H, P.E. - Design Service Group, Inc./ James W. Bart P 23. Consider the Site Flan for the proposed Boulevard Plaza (Albertson - 's Shopping Center) on Lot 5, Boulevard Plaza located at 3786 Orlando Drive. 2.C. Consider the Site Plan for a proposed Burger King drive -in restaurant on Lot 1, Boulevard Plaza located at 3788 Orlando Drive. 2.I. Consider the Site Flan for a proposed Ekerd drug store on Lot 2, Boulevard Plaza located at 3798 Orlando Drive. 2.E. Consider the Site flan for a proposed Albertson"s Express gasoline service station on Lot 4, Boulevard Plaza located at 312 W. Lake Mary Boulevard. 3. Consider the Site Flan for Logan Heights, a proposed 360 unit apartment community located at 700 E. Lake Mary Boulevard in a MR-3, Multiple Family Residential Zoning District. Parcel Numbers: 12 -2 - - - 12E 12P 12Q 12T 1 A -0000 Property Owner: Huntington Properties & Investments, Inc. Representative: Kristen Packard and Patrick Monaghan - Vestcor. 4. Minutes. 5. Any other business from floor or Commission Members. 6. Reports from Staff. ADVICE TO THE PUBLIC. ff a person decides to appeal a decision made with respect to any matter considered at the above meeting or hearing, he may need a verbatim record of the proceedings including the testimony and evidence, which record Is not provided by the City of Sanford (FS 286.0105) Persons with disabilities needing assistance to participate in any of these proceedings should contact the personnel office ADA Coordinator at 330 -5626, 46 hrs In advance of the meeting MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 7:00 P.M. CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS CITY HALL. SANFORD, FLORIDA. MEMBERS PRESENT: Carol Dennison Otto Garrett James valerino Kevin Hipes Ross Robert Timothy Hudson I � 0 :4 � *4 Z4`W1 = * -*M r 6 Andrew Kutz - excused Michael Skat- excused Hobby VonHerbulis- excused OTHERS PRESENT: Jay Marder, Director of Engineering and Planning Russ Gibson, Land Development Coordinator Robert Walter, City Engineer Eileen McDowell, Land Development Inspector The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7 :00 P.M. The first item on the Agenda was to hold a Public Hearing to consider a request for a Conditional Use for property located at 1301 Crescent Street in a SR - 1, Single Family dwelling Residential. Zoning District for the purpose of establishing a two family dwelling (duplex). owner /representative: Carlos E. Palacio. Carlos Palacio, P.O. Box 677181, Orlando, was present. He stated that he bought the property in October of 1998 as a duplex. There was a complaint made to the City that a duplex was operating in an SR -1 Zone. He contacted the City and had to apply for a Conditional Use. Mr. Palacio stated that the house has been there for 7 gears as a duplex. Century 21 sold it to him as a duplex. Mr. Marder stated that Staff was recommending denial because the enclosure that was permitted was never inspected. Windows were installed with no inspection. There has been add -ons and add -ons to the structure without permits or inspections. It appears that it was modified without permits. Mr. Palacio did not know the square footage of each unit. He stated that each unit has a separate kitchen, bathroom, and each has a driveway. There are separate access points. one side has three bedrooms and the other has two bedrooms. There is only one power meter. He noted that he has done some painting and some minor repairs and cleaning. Mr. Palacio stated that the property was in pretty good condition when he purchased it. William Fenton, 1800 Washington Avenue, was present and in opposition to the request. He stated that he is concerned with the upkeep of lawns, etc. There is an air conditioning unit that MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 PAGE 2 leaves water on the roadway. The add -ons to the structure were well before Mr. Palacio bought it. Mr. Fenton stated that he knows the east side of the structure is not up to code. David Vinson, 1200 Crescent Street, was present and in opposition. He stated that he is against a multiple dwelling unit at this location. one bedroom of the structure is totally aluminum which includes the roof. It is below grade and built almost on a curb. The structure is a mosquito hatchery and cannot possibly meet any types of codes. This will bring the neighboring property value down. John Fuller, 1204 Crescent St., was present and in opposition to the duplex. He noted some of the same concerns as Mr. Vinson and Mr. Fenton. Mr. Palacio stated that he is here to comply with City Codes and to find a solution to his problems. He noted that he does not live in the neighborhood and wanted everyone happy. Mr. Robert moved to deny to establish a duplex because of setbacks and because there weren't any final inspections nor proof of square footage. Mr. Hipes seconded. All in favor. Motion carried. The next item on the Agenda was to consider the Preliminary Subdivision Plan for Boulevard Plaza, a commercial subdivision located at 3785 Orlando Drive (northwest corner of W. Lake Mary Blvd. and US 17 -92) in a GC -2, General Commercial Zoning District. owner: Sandefur and Associates /Ellen E. Thomas. Representative: Ronald Henson, II, P.E., Design Service Group, Inc. Ron Henson of Design Services Group, 362A S. Grant Street, Longwood, was present representing Sandefur Properties and also Albertson's. The property is at the corner of 17 -92 and Lake Mary Blvd. Sandefur Properties owns roughly 14 acres and Albertson's own roughly 3 acres. Albertson's retail will occupy the large lot. Burger King, Eckerds and Albertson's Express will occupy 3 of the other lots. Each lot will not have their own driveways. A traffic circulation plan will be provided. A commercial association will take care of the common areas. Individual site plans will be submitted. A 15' utility services easement along all frontages, and corner clips on 17 -92, Lake Mary Blvd. and Live Oak will be provided. They are working with Seminole County regarding the access along Lake Mary Blvd. A traffic signal will be installed at the corner of Live oak Blvd. and Lake Mary Blvd. Mr. Henson stated that there are a few items to be resolved on each plan and that they are working on this now. A traffic study was done originally and the access was modified. They are providing a right turn lane on 17 -92 and will not allow exits near this driveway. All lots will share the benefit of an access drive. Mr. Hipes moved to approve per staff's comments. Seconded by Mr. Robert. All in favor. Motion carried. MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 151 1999 PAGE 3 The next item was the consideration of the Site Plan for the proposed Boulevard Plaza (Albertson's Shopping Center) on Lot 5 Boulevard Plaza, located at 3785 Orlando Drive. Ron Henson represented this request also. He noted that they are in agreement with Staff's comments. Mr. Robert moved for approval per staff's recommendations. Seconded by Mr. Hipes and Mr. Garrett. All in favor. Motion carried. The next item on the Agenda was the consideration of the site plan for a proposed Burger Ring drive -in restaurant on Lot 1 Boulevard Plaza, located at 3788 Orlando Drive. Ron Henson was the representative for this request. Mr. Robert moved for approval per staff's recommendations. Seconded by Mr. Hipes. All in favor, motion carried. The next item was the consideration of the site plan for a proposed Eckerd drug store on Lot 2, Boulevard Plaza, located at 3798 Orlando Drive. Ron Henson was present. Mr. Garrett moved for approval. Seconded by Ms. Dennison. All in favor, motion carried. The next item was the consideration of the site plan for Albertson's Express gasoline service station on Lot 4, Boulevard Plaza, located at 312 W. Lake Mary Boulevard. Ron Henson was present. Mr. Robert moved for approval per staff's recommendations. Seconded by Mr. Hudson. All in favor, motion carried. The next item was the consideration of the site plan for Logan Heights, a proposed 360 unit apartment community located at 700 E. Lake Mary Blvd., in a MR -3, Multiple Family Residential Zoning District. owner: Huntington Properties & Investments, Inc. Representative: Kristen Packard and Patrick Monaghan - Vestcor. VERBATIM: Jim Hattaway: My name is Jim Hattaway with Holland and Knight in Orlando, our address is 200 S. orange Ave. What we'd like to do tonight is kind of present an entire package to you through approach. Following myself will be Jim McNeil, sitting right there, who is also an attorney with Holland and Knight and will discuss some of the legal and planning issues involved in this particular project and to give you kind of a heads up on some things we would like to talk about. Especially, we disagree with some of the recommendations of staff, but Mr. McNeil will discuss that MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15 1999 PAGE 4 in greater detail. Following that Ms. Packard, who is the Vice President of housing development for Vestcor, which is a Florida corporation. As you can see the setup here will provide a multi media demonstration of the kinds of projects that Vestcor has built before and show you the flare and attitude that Vestcor has when they build and develop. Also, present in the audience, but not scheduled to speak, tonight is Patrick Martin [Monoghan], who is one of Vestcor's project design managers and Jeffrey Garrett, Developmental Coordinator. We brought them along so that, should you have questions or comments that are beyond the three of us, they will be able to answer any questions you may have. And, what we'd like to do, if I can respectfully ask you Mr. Chairman, is perhaps we can hold off questions and comments until all three of us have spoken. Perhaps, you can see the whole picture and of course, we will answer any questions or comments that the Board might have. Having said that, I'd like to yield to Mr. McNeil. Jim McNeil: Good evening, how y'all doing. Its been two weeks since we were before you all with the rezoning request, and as we promised we are here tonight with the site plan. Um, as you can see from the site plan and the topographic survey, we are proposing a 360 unit multi family development, um, off of Lake Mary Blvd. The project has been a long evolution to get us where we are today. Um, to point out a few things, so you can see, we've got approximately 15 buildings on the site and, um, the main entrance is off of Lake Mary Blvd. Here. If I could for a second, let me draw your attention to the survey, this, the survey that you also have in your pack, to give you an idea about a little bit of the history of the property. As you can see from the survey here, the area in yellow is currently where the City has ingress and egress and utility rights. The pink one is where the City's water line is currently located and the green line, sort of difficult to see, but basically runs within the easement area here, where there is a sewer force main. Ross Robert: Which way is north on that map? I'm lost. Mr. McNeil: I'm sorry, north is this way. Mr. Robert: That way O.R. Mr. McNeil: Would it be helpful if I turn it this way. Mr. Robert: Yes, north at the top. Mr. McNeil: Um, so anyway, as you can see, we've got a little bit of a utility problem here, historically, with these um, these lines that cross the property. When we came before the City, um, with the proposal to develop the site, we talked about this context of rerouting the utility lines that could take care of this problem. And, what we are proposing today is to construct new water and sewer lines roughly along, along this wetland area down here, there's a, MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 PAGE 5 through a, dedicated easement, to be fair with the City, and along Lake Mary Blvd. within the right -of -way. We think that that will take care of the problem at that point that the line would be constructed and the remaining lines are abandoned. This issue should be taken care of. In conjunction with that, um, we have submitted a plan that dedicates to the City, as fee simple, these roadway areas that are shown on the survey here, to allow for current access to the site and future access once the remaining tracts in the area are developed, or, should the City desire to pave to put in the road themselves. The, um, project itself has had a little bit of a bumpy history if you will. We started out with site plan whereby we were going to have units over here in this piece and our project would basically be more condensed in this area. Uri'►, during the process we have learned that the folks at Wal -Mart who are leasing some space adjacent to here, had an interest in expanding their current building. And to try to accommodate the City and accommodate that project, and not also entangle ourselves and that whole permitting problem, we spoke with our seller of the property and tried to work out an arrangement that would be mutual beneficial for the City, for Wal -Mart and currently for ourselves. So we came up with a plan whereby; we would release our contractual rights to this piece right here, at the rear of the Wal -Mart, and basically shift our development up, and that's what you see here today. Some of you may or may not know that the folks at Wal -Mart [plan] to expand their current site, um, they will need to build within the current retention pond that they've got at the rear of the building. And they basically need this land to push their project back. So we've tried to accommodate that, in that regard. The problem with that, has been for us, is its just shifted our development plan into a, into a little different area than what we had originally designed and spoken with the staff about. Overall, um, I think the project, if you look at the density, is well within what is permitted there, currently. We talked about this at the last meeting. I think from a density standpoint um, we're in really good shape there, we're certainly not over building this area by any stretch of imagination. Um, the um, the recommendation that staff has put together we generally agree with and we were working with staff very hard, um, to get the project where it is today and I think we've all been successful in that regard. The only one or two points, that we would have an issue with, in their report, is the request that the developer, um, do some additional, um, stabilization of the proposed Rolling Hills Blvd., which is up in this area up here. Our site plan currently shows that we will build Rolling Hills Blvd. up to the entrance of our development which is approximately in this area and which will you know adequately provide ingress and egress to our site. We've got a traffic study that supports that and so forth. Um, one of the requests, if you will, in the staff report, addresses, um, some additional stabilization and mitigation beyond our site. We just feel that that's an additional expense, to a significant nature, that is not something MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 In A r± z+ c that, legally or equitably, that we should be responsible for and we would request that, that additional requirement not be placed upon the burden on us. Um, the other issue that we'd like to focus on relates to the, um, proposed rear access to this site. The one on the rear of the site plan. Um, staff has recommended or requested that an additional rear gate be provided allowing vehicular ingress and egress onto Americana Blvd., which is in this area right here. Um, in a few minutes when um, Kristen Packard is up here telling you a little bit about her company and her development experiences and some of the projects they've done throughout the State of Florida, I think you'll see that from a property management standpoint and from a safety standpoint, having one point of vehicular ingress and egress is um, what we would desire. Its been Vestcor's experience having one main point of entrance and exit from the site is better from a public safety standpoint as well as from a property management standpoint. It makes things much more conducive in having a successful operation. Um, the project overall, I believe, is consistent with the City's Land Development Code and the Comprehensive Plan. We've certainly been working real hard with the City Staff and with the City Manager and frankly the project in its current shape, I think we've got a pretty good plan here today. Um, we've tried to (tape fuzzy) as we've got to work with here and um, we've certainly done, taken care of all the mitigation that will be impacted by our development of this site. Um, as evidence adds, that's pretty much an overview of the project as a whole. I would like to have Kristen talk a little bit about the folks at Vestcor and their development experiences; and projects they have constructed; and what their intentions are for this project, ultimately, what this development will look like once its brought to its completion. After that, I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have and like to discuss it further. Thank you. Kristen Packard: Again, my name is Kristen Packard, I'm with Vestcor Development Corporation. I really appreciate the opportunity to appear before you this evening. I'd like to take just a few minutes to give you an overview of our company. I think its important that you understand who we are and what we are all about as we become citizens of the City of Sanford. Um, Vestcor is a diverse real estate firm that is involved in investments, development, construction and property management. we are a visionary firm that excels upon integrity, quality and attention to details. We are leaders in the apartment industry in Florida with the financial resources and the experience to see any development through to fruition. The founder of our company is John Rue, he founded Vestcor in Jacksonville in 1953. He initially established our company as a brokerage firm for multi family properties. He quickly saw a need to provide quality property management services in addition to innovative financial structuring. And from the inception of our company to the present, Mr. Rue has led Vestcor to become Northeast Florida's largest apartment manager with 275 employees and over 6,500 multi family units. The MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 PAGE 7 Vestcor family of companies include Vestcor Equities, Vestcor Realty Management, and Vestcor Construction Services and Vestcor Development Corporation. All of these companies interact to provide us with a multi faceted and uniquely dynamic constructive to the development business. A strong and experienced management team and our very dedicated responsive staff are the key to our success. We have all been trained and encouraged to think critically and empowered to make good decisions. Our employees developed the corporate vision for us: "To pursue quality real estate investments with the goals to maximize the return on investments, to provide exceptional products and service to our clients and customers, ... high ethical standards that has given us the reputation for honesty, we exceed the expectation of our investments, clients, customers and employees, to provide our employees with a working environment based upon the respect, success and career growth and help others with charitable activities." The particular company that I am associated with, our primary goal is to seek opportunities in financing and development of multi family properties with specific emphasis on properties that are developed under the federal mortgage revenue bond program and housing credit program. I am Vice President of Housing Development Division. I am responsible for the development, legal and operational activities for Vestcor Development Corporation. My position includes regional housing development. As I stated before the bond and housing credit program. I've been involved in the acquisition and development of over 3,000 units in under 5 years. The next few slides are showing units done in 1985 outside of Jacksonville, 304 units done in 1997 in Jacksonville. Kendle Court apartments which we began construction in June of 1998. Apartments done in November of 1998 located in Palm Bay. The last one is Courtney Manor Apartments, another 360 units, under construction currently in Jacksonville. I'd like to share with you a little bit about another very important part of our company, its Vestcor ... and Management. Cynthia Lucas is responsible for the property management division of our company. She is continuously enhancing the policy and procedures in performing analysis on our properties to maximize the return on our investments. Under Cynthia's direction, our property management company is going to be the 1998 Property Management Company of the year by the Jacksonville Apartment Association. Um, we are the largest manager of multi family in Northeast Florida. As an owner and a third party management, we manage a wide range of product type with the same commitment to quality in asset management and excellent customer service to our residents. I'd like to share with you our Vestcor Pledge, our staff carries this pledge card around in their uniforms to constantly remind them of our commitment to our residents. It goes something like this: Always greet our customers with a friendly smile, complete all service requests promptly and anticipate those needs to ensure a carefree life style. The owner of our company has been known at every company function to offer a $20 bill to an employee who can recite the pledge. Without a doubt we MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 PAGE 8 believe that the success of any multi family community is tied to long term management and that is why we adhere to a very strict rental criteria in our resident selection. Our applicants must have a gross income of at least three times the monthly rental rate, applicants must have a verifiable residency for at least 24 months, they must have 6 months of consecutive verifiable employment. We check the credit report of each resident and all of our residents are subject to a criminal background check. And any applicant whose records reflect a misdemeanor or felony conviction within the past 7 years for domestic violence, drug related activities, sex offenses or crimes of that nature will be rejected. Last but not least, I'd like to share with you some information about Vestcor Construction Services. We are a class -A licensed general contractor specializing in design, construction and rehabilitation services. Vestcor Construction Services primarily provides multi family construction to Vestcor companies and we do ..... work as well. The company was formed in 1994 and we have built over 3,000 multi family units since that time. We are a design build type construction company. This insures that our developments are built on time and on budget. We have developed many efficient operation systems to operating to insure safety quality assurance. The next slide is a picture of the president of our construction company. Under Mr. ... direction, Vestcor Construction services annual volume work exceeded 75 million in 1999. An example to our commitment to superior quality is evidence by the fact that Vestcor Construction Services was recognized by Brevard County earlier this year for the cleanest construction site during the year 1998. The contest was sponsored by Brevard County and we were actually nominated by the City of Palm Bay. Vestcor utilizes a state of the art construction technology known as concrete ... in lieu of wood framing. This method of construction utilizes cast in place concrete ................. January of this year is when we very first showed up on Russ' doorstep. Our original plan as Jim said was to have buildings come along up in here and encompass the lower section of this site. We were presented with the opportunity to work with the City and work with Wal -Mart to accommodate their expansion on the site which we know the City wanted and we certainly want them to have that as well. We're here obviously tonight asking for the approval of the site plan. As Jim stated, there are a couple of things that we object to and you've already approved our request for rezoning. Let me tell you a little bit about the financial structure. Logan Heights will be financed under the federal mortgage revenue bond program which is a federal tax incentive that uses both taxable and tax exempt bonds to make below market rates, interest rates to developers who commit to set aside a portion of the units to families or individuals that earn less than 60% of area medium income. Seminole County or Sanford's medium income is about $48,100. For a family of four this means that they cannot make over $25,000. Moving on ....... Vestcor is a quality minded company. MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15 1999 nnr±V a Mr. Hattaway: something we wanted to say at the end here is we have got some disagreements we have with the staff's recommendations in their addendum. What I'd like to do is just point those out to you. Taking a look at page one of the memorandum, Points One and Two, we have no comments on them. Point Three, we respectfully take strong issue with and we would request that Point Three be completely strickened. As of Point Four, we have no strong objections with the first sentence of Point Four, but the remainder we request be strickened. Apart from that we have no other serious objections. Mr. Valerino: On Point Four you are recommending that the stabilized base Mr. Hattaway: Mr. Chairman, on Point Four is to realign Americana Blvd. there to the end of the second line, we object to beyond that where it starts at it also appears to the end we would like to see strickened along with all of paragraph three. Apart from that we have no other serious objections. Thank you and we do await your questions. Mr. Hipes: Jim, I just wanted to state that our company owns the Wal -Mart shopping Center and Wal -Mart is my tenant so I feel I should abstain. Mr. Garrett: I do have a concern, I would like to see a second entrance on Americana Blvd., I think we'll need it for the residents going in and out because people are gonna be going in both directions to work. I think we're gonna need it for fire and police to respond to different calls. Ms. Packard: ....in emergencies for Fire and Police, there will be access provided but only on emergency basis. What we object to is the opening of .... ingress /egress in that area. As I shared this with the City in our development review committee meetings, with the extensive experience that we have in property management, we have found that having one point of entrance and exits into the community is in the best interest of the community.... Mr. Hudson: Staff recommended that you pave the road an additional 350 beyond your property. I think that is a little extensive. However, I think you should pave at least 150' beyond the entrance road. Ms. Packard: This is really a product of the ongoing discussions that we have had with the Vial -Dart Center ... in proceeding how to accommodate and create a win -win situation and allow our development to proceed on ... allow the Wal -Mart the space that they needed. With our original site plan the road was not in those areas. What you see is a product of... Mr. Walter: 350 is just north of where they propose to end the pavement at their basically their driveway into their facility. It goes through a wetland area which Tay stated there is muck. MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 PAGE 10 Mr. Hudson: So you all need a total of 350 in order to realign the utilities. Mr. Walter: Is just through a wetland area that's gonna cost the City a lot of money to mitigate, to fill and to prepare for a road base that when we exchange these easements for the road right -of -ways, uh, my opinion is that this is, at least, that they're contributing, uh, for the road improvements. Mr. Hattaway: We do have our engineer present who can talk about environmental conditions and specifically answer, because I think when there's talk of muck, that doesn't perhaps accurately describe what's going on out there and our engineer can really give you a more coherent picture of really what's going on out there. If that a ... a ... a.... Jim McNeil: Generally, I can totally appreciate staff's position on this thing. I've appeared before others and I can see other staffs make similar recommendations out of the city's best interest basically, and we get this developer that kicks something in above and beyond what their legal applicable requirements are. That's really the question here today. We've got, we're building our entrance road up to our development. The additional cost is significant, its about $60,000 to stabilize that area and to do some mitigation, just basing it on preliminary estimates. And, if it was a much small number we would certainly step up to the plate and just take that. But because it is a significant number, and we feel like it's something in all fairness, you know, it's really for the next guy so to speak that comes in here and develops. Um, we'd like to defer that to the next developer, frankly, and work with the city if they decide to go through and develop any of those roads. I'd like to just have Patrick, for a brief minute, talk to you about the quality of the wetlands and so forth ... The other item that I neglected to mention earlier was with these roads we've also incurred considerable expense in doing all the engineering for the new roadways. We volunteered that to the City and they accepted our offer. We have been moving forward, we made significant progress with the engineering plans and there, that's... I mean, we're full steam ahead on that already for the City so that the next developer that comes in decides to build in the future there, will have approved engineering plans that are ready to go. That's all we've got. Ms. Packard: We would like deleted, Paragraph Three, in its entirety, which deals specifically with the second entrance and exit to the property. And on number four we'd like to have the first sentence remain, and start from it also appears. Mr. Walter: May I explain to you my comments and concerns. Americana Blvd. right now has easements that come through MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING C OMM I S S I oN MEETING OF JULY 15, 1999 PAGE 11 this area. Whether they are legal or not is some question, some question whether they have been vacated or whatever... we believe they are still in tact and we are going through the process of vacating them right now. We do believe that this area here is still in tact. So and basically, we can go in there and put a road in there today. This part of Americana Blvd. is being shifted up to the dark line. From here to here is a wetland area. This project needs the good land, so it's shifting the ... because of this project. This project needs good land for shifting the road right -of -way up into the wetland area. That wetland area is also in a 100 year flood plan. In order for the City to go and develop this road, we have to mitigate for the wetlands, we have to do 100 year.. storage. This area up in here where this road is proposed is anywhere from 3 to 7 deeper than the adjacent property. It appears that this is a floodway for the wetlands and the wetlands drains through this floodway over here to Six Mile Creek. our code does not allow us to build in a floodway. ...If we can get around there, it will cost us additional monies in drainage, piping, to do something to get this wetland even closer there, we will be filling this ditch to the river. Ah, those pipes would be 3 to 7 in diameter to compensate for that ditch. That will be an excessive cost to the City to build this road. This portion here, Rolling Hills, is not in wetlands and the City could build today. The proposal here tips it over and it clips about 350 of the wetland that requires us to fill, mitigate, and to get St. Johns permits to fill in the wetlands. Mitigation is probably the big cost here. I didn't see any muck in the soil borings either. It is the mitigation, taking wetland where there is habitat, the birds and wetland features, and filling it in is an impact to society and St. Johns requires us to mitigate for doing that sort of thing. So in return for mooring Americana up into this large portion of the wetlands and moving Rolling Hills over into 350 of wetlands, I'm requesting that the developer at least mitigate and fill that portion of the wetlands so the City can come and basically have a road that basically is in about the same condition that we have... Mr. Walter stated that this complex will have 360 units, there will be shopping and workers at Wal -Mart and Eckerds. There won't be too many people shopping and carrying their packages a quarter to a half a mile through the complex. There should be at least an access for the residents. If there is not another access, landscaping will be trampled and residents doing whatever they can to get through. Mr. Robert: I'm in favor of keeping six of those seven and giving up on the Number 3, that is, being willing to strike paragraph 3 that asks for the back gate that gives you options in there. But I'm not in favor of giving up on in effect that a $60,000, you might call it a windfall, just because the city got you in a wringer. That's where I stand on it. The City Commission of course can change the whole thing around. We will send this with a recommendation. MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 151 1999 PAGE 12 Don't know how its gonna come out but ...... That is in effect the motion that we approve the site plan per staff's comments with the exception of Paragraph 3 of Robert J. Walter's, P.E., memo dated July 14, 1999. Ms. Dennison seconded. All in favor. Motion carried. On the Addendum was the consideration of the site plan for a proposed Race Trac, a gasoline service station to be located at 3760 Orlando Drive (a portion of the former Movieland Drive -In site). Owner: Petrocon, Inc.; representative: Todd Duplantis. Todd Duplantis, 300 Technology Court, Atlanta, Ga., was present. He stated that since he is the first to develop in the area, DOT will not issue a permit to install sidewalks within their right - of -way. The sign will be a monument sign, 50 square feet, 25' high. He has no problem with installing the sidewalks at a later date. Mr. Robert moved on approval per staff's recommendations. Mr. Hipes seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Robert moved on approval of the Minutes. Seconded by Mr. Garrett. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Marder briefly reviewed some of the future transportation improvements. He noted improvements to Bevier Road, the expressway from 17 -92 to I -4, St. Johns Parkway, etc. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:30 P.M. n ., - J es Valerino, Chairman